China-Pakistan economic corridor and its impact on rural development and human life sustainability. Observations from rural women

Abstract

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a "game-changer" not only for policymakers but also for common citizens of China and Pakistan because of its potential benefits in the economic prosperity and sustainable development in the lives of individuals. Recently, scholars have shown a great interest in researching the eminence of CPEC. Despite prodigious efforts of scholars, the question "how CPEC would influence living standards of rural women and what they perceive?" has been remained unanswered. The present study is the first attempt to unearth the perceptions of rural areas' women towards CPEC. We collected empirical evidence through a structured questionnaire from 302 educated rural women and interviewing 32 uneducated rural women. The following major conclusions are drawn through structural equation modeling via AMOS 21: the rural women significantly directly perceive new opportunities through CPEC; however, they perceive that the CPEC would not directly influence their quality of life and self-enhancement, but through the development of these rural areas. Rural development partially mediates the relationship between CPEC development and perceived opportunities while it fully mediates the relationships between CPEC development and quality of life as well as between CPEC development and self-enhancement. Policymakers need to emphasize on development of rural areas that would improve living standards of poor communities. The government needs to meet the expectations of poor communities and rural women to ensure their sustainable development.

The role of project managers’ attributes in project sustainability management and project performance under China-Pakistan economic corridor

“…These projects are in progress in rural and urban areas of Pakistan. Several research studies have discussed micro-level (Kanwal et al , 2019; Saad et al , 2020; Shah et al , 2021) and macro-level (McCartney, 2020; Ul Hassan, 2020; Ali et al , 2020) determinants of CPEC. Surprisingly, studies have not paid attention to how project managers’ demographic factors impact project performance through project sustainability management.…”

Investigating the Impact of the External Environment and Benchmark Characteristics on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s Construction: A COVID-19 Perspective

“…Firstly, it investigates the development of CPEC construction and its economic impact through the CPEC external environment and its project benchmark characteristics. It supplements previous research, which has examined the impact of CPEC development or the overall the benefits of CPEC projects (Khalique et al, 2020;Saad et al, 2020;Lai et al, 2021) but ignored the external environment and the CPEC project characteristics that are directly related to the construction of CPEC projects. Secondly, this study's results indicate that CPEC development has a significant impact on economic stability.…”

“…Both Chinese and Pakistani authorities regard CPEC as a game-changing project, with 27 economic zones spread throughout both countries that will support industrialization, economic growth, and several developments in the energy sector in Pakistan (Raza et al, 2018;Boni and Adeney, 2020). Scholars and policymakers have also stated that CPEC not only promotes trade between China and Pakistan but also with the rest of the world (Kanwal et al, 2020b;Saad et al, 2020). With the development of mega-infrastructure and regional connectivity, the host community will benefit economically from jobs, business, and easy access to the global market (Kanwal et al, 2019a).…”

The Impact of the Economic Corridor on Economic Stability: A Double Mediating Role of Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Development Under the Exceptional Circumstances of COVID-19

“…Countries’ interests are primary aims; therefore, in CPEC, national and economic interests are more dominated by the elaboration of various initiatives. At the same time, they emphasize the projects that have significant importance, and relations between countries and their native people ( Saad et al, 2020 ). CPEC ventures include educational institutes, companies, housing, work openings, and how these ventures will improve their future and help the community ( Cole et al, 2020 ).…”